82 THE FRENCH, ENGLISH, AND INDIANS. [1682-1755. 



long have availed to save them from the visitations 

 of the scalping-knife. But the Delawares, the 

 people on whose territory they had settled, were 

 like themselves debarred the use of arms. The 

 Iroquois had conquered them, disarmed them, and 

 forced them to adopt the opprobrious name of 

 women. The humble Delawares were but too 

 happy to receive the hand extended to them, and 

 dwell in friendship with their pacific neighbors ; 

 since to have lifted the hatchet would have brought 

 upon their heads the vengeance of their conquerors, 

 whose good will Penn had taken pains to secure.^ 



The sons of Penn, his successors in the proprie- 

 torship of the province, did not evince the same 

 kindly feeling towards the Indians w^hich had dis- 

 tinguished their father. Earnest to acquire new 

 lands, they commenced through their agents a 

 series of unjust measures, which gradually alien- 

 ated the Indians, and, after a peace of seventy 

 years, produced a disastrous rupture. The Quaker 

 population of the colony sympathized in the kind- 

 ness which its founder had cherished towards the 

 benighted race. This feeling was strengthened 

 by years of friendly intercourse ; and except where 

 private interest was concerned, the Quakers made 

 good their reiterated professions of attachment. 

 Kindness to the Indian was the glory of their sect. 

 As years wore on, this feeling was wonderfully 

 reenforced by the influence of party spirit. The 

 time arrived when, alienated by English encroach- 



1 He paid twice for his lands ; once to the Iroquois, who claimed them 

 by right of conquest, and once to their occupants, the Delawares. 



